American Girl, the bane of my existence

An American Girl doll.
My daughter has been asking for one for the last 3 years. I've been saying, "Sweetheart, those dolls cost $100. That's a lot of money, especially for a doll."

Last year, our daughter received the cheaper, and exactly the same Target version of the doll for her birthday. The Our Generation doll cost $25, and additional outfits come in at around $10, as opposed to the American Girl doll's clothes that average around $38 a freaking outfit. I infrequently shop clearance racks for my clothes, I'm not sure any one outfit totals $38 (except for my shoes,of course).

My mother and mother-in-law have gifted our daughter with accessories for her now 2 Our Generation dolls. She's got a lot of fun gear for them. Still, they are not American Girl dolls. Her friends have the real deal. A couple friends have 2 or 3 American Girls!

It pains me. The cost for a doll like this is so excessive. It's ridiculous. It's still made in China just like the Target version, only a bigger profit is made.
The Grrrr! in me just says, Ugh. It's just so damn bougie.


I've been able to hold off for 3 years. For one, I thought my daughter was too young to have such an expensive doll. And I would totally lose my shit if I found her wet and moldy after being left under a bush-fort in the back yard after a downpour. Two, I didn't want her to have one of these dolls if she wasn't into the books. The books after all, are quite good. I like them, even if they are a little ahem, a little too Americana at times.

But she reads the books now. Her friends know the stories behind the dolls and they all act this stuff out. They thoroughly enjoy playing with their dolls. My daughter and her friends are good kids with great imaginations. I'm thrilled that at the age of very-soon-to-be NINE (holy cow!), our daughter still loves to play dolls, to pretend, and to just be a kid.

The clincher though: after many months of begging for an A.G. doll, S said to us as she longingly flipped through the worn A.G. catalog for the umpteenth time, "If I could get any doll I wanted, I'd get Ruthie."

This made me stop. Ruthie is not one of the top-of-the-list dolls. She's a friend to one of the top-of-the-list dolls. She's a second-best. She's not uber hip. She's not fancy pants in some crazy outfit. She's just a doll. And her name is Ruthie.

I had an Aunt Ruthie.My mother's sister. Besides me, she was the only blond in the family (either side, for me)for a couple generations. People used to think I was her daughter, and as a kid, I liked that. Ruthie was hilarious and light-hearted and as a kid, I would've been thrilled to be her daughter. She passed away at the age of 37 of breast cancer, leaving behind two daughters and a husband.

I've never told my daughter about my Aunt Ruthie. I don't even have contact with my cousins (Ruthie's daughters). It was just a little coincidence that tweaked my heart.

I'll probably order little Ruthie next week, in all her bougie glory. For the love of my daughter who has chosen this humble little character, and for the love of the name Ruthie and all that it means to me.